{"id":2441,"date":"2026-05-11T12:07:17","date_gmt":"2026-05-11T17:07:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alphatechcounsel.com\/blog\/?p=2441"},"modified":"2026-05-11T12:07:17","modified_gmt":"2026-05-11T17:07:17","slug":"not-locking-up-intellectual-property-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alphatechcounsel.com\/blog\/not-locking-up-intellectual-property-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Startup Mistake 5 of 13: Not Locking Up Intellectual Property"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t<div data-elementor-type=\"wp-post\" data-elementor-id=\"2441\" class=\"elementor elementor-2441\" data-elementor-post-type=\"post\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-d30783d e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"d30783d\" data-element_type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-c37b658 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"c37b658\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>For early-stage startups, intellectual property is often the business, but ownership is not automatic. Founders need signed agreements that clearly assign IP rights to the company before those rights are scrutinized in a financing or acquisition.<\/p><p>In the video below, Matt Storms explains why proper IP assignment matters and how founders can avoid ownership issues that create problems later.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-24c4568 elementor-widget elementor-widget-video\" data-id=\"24c4568\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-settings=\"{&quot;youtube_url&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/youtu.be\\\/3-doyFOpEqM?si=KIQw4xgxDpVPqnZS&quot;,&quot;video_type&quot;:&quot;youtube&quot;,&quot;controls&quot;:&quot;yes&quot;}\" data-widget_type=\"video.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-wrapper elementor-open-inline\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-video\"><\/div>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-cdc5144 elementor-widget elementor-widget-template\" data-id=\"cdc5144\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"template.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-template\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div data-elementor-type=\"container\" data-elementor-id=\"1965\" class=\"elementor elementor-1965\" data-elementor-post-type=\"elementor_library\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-332c6ba5 e-con-full e-flex e-con e-child\" data-id=\"332c6ba5\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-settings=\"{&quot;background_background&quot;:&quot;classic&quot;}\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-7b808475 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"7b808475\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p style=\"text-align: center;\">If you have questions about any of these issues or want to discuss your specific situation, you can schedule time with our team here:\u00a0<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-3acad1de elementor-widget elementor-widget-html\" data-id=\"3acad1de\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"html.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"calendly-link-wrapper\">\r\n  <!-- Calendly link widget begin -->\r\n<link href=\"https:\/\/assets.calendly.com\/assets\/external\/widget.css\" rel=\"stylesheet\">\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/assets.calendly.com\/assets\/external\/widget.js\" type=\"text\/javascript\" async><\/script>\r\n<a href=\"\" onclick=\"Calendly.initPopupWidget({url: 'https:\/\/calendly.com\/mstormsalphatechcounsel\/introductory-call-w-alphatech-counsel-clone'});return false;\">Let's Talk<\/a>\r\n<!-- Calendly link widget end -->\r\n<\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-588a839 elementor-widget elementor-widget-template\" data-id=\"588a839\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"template.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-template\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div data-elementor-type=\"container\" data-elementor-id=\"2264\" class=\"elementor elementor-2264\" data-elementor-post-type=\"elementor_library\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-3370f512 e-con-full e-flex e-con e-child\" data-id=\"3370f512\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-settings=\"{&quot;background_background&quot;:&quot;classic&quot;}\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-318c8481 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"318c8481\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p style=\"text-align: center;\">Learn more about venture capital terms using our glossary:<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-365dc386 elementor-widget elementor-widget-html\" data-id=\"365dc386\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"html.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"glossary-link-wrapper\">\r\n  <!-- Glossary link widget begin -->\r\n    <a link href=\"https:\/\/alphatechcounsel.com\/glossary.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"stylesheet\">Glossary<\/a>  \r\n<!-- Glossary link widget end -->\r\n<\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Failing to secure proper IP assignment agreements can jeopardize ownership and reduce a startup\u2019s value during financing or acquisition.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2167,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2441","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-start-ups"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alphatechcounsel.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2441","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alphatechcounsel.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alphatechcounsel.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alphatechcounsel.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alphatechcounsel.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2441"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/alphatechcounsel.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2441\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2445,"href":"https:\/\/alphatechcounsel.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2441\/revisions\/2445"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alphatechcounsel.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2167"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alphatechcounsel.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2441"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alphatechcounsel.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2441"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alphatechcounsel.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2441"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}